


Peaceful Places

by arysthaeniru



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 02:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4417274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/arysthaeniru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Solace has always been something rare in the world, but there are small pockets where they manage to find themselves at home, anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peaceful Places

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seki/gifts).



> A very happy birthday to one of my favourite authors (and friends)! Hope it's a great one and that you enjoy this~

Rikkai's school was close to the sea, this was a fact that every student knew, and while many valiant efforts to find an ideal beach had been made, there was simply none within walking distance. No large beach parties for the arts and sports school. But Sanada had never needed a beach, only ever a good place to jog in the mornings, and if you simply crossed the main motorway and kept jogging down, there was a fairly deserted pier that extended for a long distance, all within a half-mile radius of the campus. 

He'd not done any research about it, nor had he asked Yanagi about it, but with the slightly old-fashioned style of anchors that were left hanging at the side of the pier, the story was clear enough. A previous port, probably for fishing vessels, that had been for the most part abandoned, except for a few small private boats that still hooked their boats up there. 

Still, there was little to no security around there, so Sanada usually found himself going down there to jog in the mornings, the days where he felt like he needed a little more peace than was offered by the empty streets of the Kanagawa suburbs. The smell of the salt air was strong, and the headwind against his progress down the pier, was often brutally cold in the morning, but Sanada tolerated that for the sound of the restless sea around him and sheer, stark beauty of watching the sea roll around, frothing at times with its anger, but calm at others. 

It was a good reminder of how to control his own temper. It was hard some days, truly difficult to push aside the boiling, flaming rage that filled him at some things. Meditation helped, focusing on things that he enjoyed and felt comfortable with also seemed to put a dent in his rage, but honestly, it frightened Sanada to a degree. It had never been like this before Yukimura's surgery. And now that Yukimura was safe again, he'd sort of expected it to die down. but it hadn't. It lingered, like an unwelcome, constant reminder of how much he had mentally (and physically, if Niou’s jibes meant anything) aged in the past eight months. 

He exhaled, heavily and continued to jog. He didn't want to think about his issues for too long. 

He rarely lingered at the pier, just in case someone did see him and told him to leave the docking bay, but today, he just couldn't resist. The sea was blissfully calm today, and the sun's rays rippled over the water. It was still and every bit as useful for meditation as his grandfather's garden. The sea’s soft ebbing and flowing almost sounded like his name, and he paused, on the end of the boardwalk, staring into the distance. No, it was just the sea, not someone’s voice. Sanada took a seat at the edge of the pier, carefully letting his feet rest on the black rock formations that hugged close to the sides. 

The Pacific Ocean stretched out ahead of him and he couldn't help but smile just a little, before he crossed his legs properly, and settled into seiza. It wasn't a schoolday, he wouldn’t be missing anything. He’d finished his homework yesterday, which meant today was free to relax. The peace of the area filled his very bones and it was almost too easy to slip into the charged state of meditation, where everything was blissfully calm. 

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but he finally stirred from his meditation, at the presence of another figure at his side, hand on his shoulder, gently. Sanada blinked out of it, as if from a wonderful dream, and turned towards Yanagi, whose head was tilted upwards to breathe in the salty air. "Your mother was worried." Yanagi said, softly. "She asked me and Seiichi if we knew where you'd be. Your grandfather said you'd gone running, so Seiichi's checking campus. But I know you like to come here."

Sanada guiltily checked his watch and started. No wonder his mother had been worried, he'd been sitting here for almost four hours. His stomach rumbled a little and Sanada stood up, quickly, stretching out his cramped muscles. He was going to be in pain tomorrow, he hadn't really cooled down from his run when he'd sat down here to meditate. "Sorry." he apologized, bowing lowly. "I didn't mean to take you from what you were doing."

Yanagi waved it off, with a light smile. "It's alright, I wasn't doing anything too important." There was a loud shout from behind them and they both turned to see the running figure of Yukimura skidding down the pier. "On the other hand, I think Seiichi may have more to say about it."

Sanada exhaled, and mentally prepared himself to deal with an angry and disappointed Yukimura. As expected, Yukimura skidded up to Sanada and punched Sanada's arm, hard. Sanada winced and Yukimura's blazing blue eyes met his. "You have a phone for a goddamn reason!" Yukimura said, hotly. 

"Were you doing anything important?" asked Sanada and Yukimura pulled a face.

"I was enjoying some actual sleep, that's what I was doing, you nocturnal beast." complained Yukimura, as he turned on his heel and pulled out his phone, to scroll to Sanada's home phone and call it. Sanada fell in step, with Yanagi, behind Yukimura, who grumpily confirmed that Sanada was not dead in a ditch and had not been run over. 

Sanada caught the phone as Yukimura tossed it back and placed it to his ear. "Sorry mother." he apologized, formally. "There was a good spot for meditation and more time passed than I thought it would..."

There was a heavy breathing on the other end and a long exhale. "You're usually so responsible, Genichirou. Don't do it again, please. My heart can't take it." his mother said, her voice gruff and Sanada made an affirmative sound, guilt and hunger twisting together in his stomach. 

"I'll make it up to you." he said, and she made an annoyed noise as she hung up. Sanada passed the phone back to Yukimura, who looked a little less furious and a lot more tired.

"Let's go grab breakfast at your house, Genichirou, I'm so hungry." Yukimura said and Sanada nodded in agreement. His mother never minded, and often made excess food just for the hungry teenagers that often ended up at her house. She especially loved Yukimura and Yanagi, happy to have them as other sons to cook for.

Yanagi smiled and extended his arms out, towards the spray of the waves, which had turned a little more restless, even at low tide. "I can see why you chose here to meditate. It's beautiful.”

"Don't encourage him." Yukimura grumbled, but he turned around as well, walking backwards and surveying the horizon, with a soft look of approval. The wind pushed his hair away from his face and he grinned, besides himself. "...it'd be a nice place to paint, yeah." 

"I was thinking it would be a better place to take the team for laps. It might encourage people to run a little faster if they have an outdoor trail." Sanada mused, as they walked up the pier. "A little less boring than the courts."

"It's not practical." Yanagi said, brows furrowed a little, in disappointment. "You want to take our team running across a large motorway, when the usual antics during normal laps around the courts have almost killed some first-years?" 

When put like that... 

Sanada made a noise of annoyance. "They need a good dose of discipline, that's what they need." he muttered to himself, darkly, crossing his arms over his chest. Yukimura chuckled, softly, as he spun around on his heel and started jogging himself, feet thumping across the wooden slats, heavily. 

"We can take the regulars jogging here, we can keep five people in line well enough, I think." Yukimura suggested, as he slowed his pace back down to a walk, and both Sanada and Yanagi gave him a completely astounded look. It wasn't often that _Yukimura_ was the one suggesting a middle ground. 

"Don't give me that look, you two were slacking on the voice of responsibility. _Somebody_ has to do it or we'll spiral away into flights of fantasy." Yukimura said, pitching his voice a little more snootily, almost sounding like Yagyuu. 

Sanada blinked. "Did I meditate so hard that I transported to another dimension, Renji?" he asked, turning to Yanagi. Yanagi shrugged, but his expression of shock was far more mocking. 

Yukimura grinned, before laughing and tugging both of their hands. "Come on, I'm hungry! Hurry up, you slowpokes! Sanada's mum's cooking can't be missed."

(X)

The sun beat down on Yukimura's face and he adjusted the sweatband over his forehead, to cover as much of his skin as possible. As much as he loved summer and the sun, it could get very quickly annoying, especially when the heat only amplified with the humidity. It was a hot, stagnant day, despite the cool breeze that had started off the morning.

But that had perhaps been due to their proximity to the sea. Further inland, trapped between the mish-mosh of cramped buildings, the sun seemed to beat itself against his skin. With a light groan, Yukimura paused at the street light and confirmed that both Yanagi and Sanada were still following behind him. 

After the morning debacle, he'd decided that Sanada owed him for making him wake up at 8am on a weekend, so had forced Sanada to help him pick up his fertilizer and seedlings from the flower shop in the upper part of Kanagawa. Sanada's mother had approved the activity quickly and Yanagi shrugged and said that he needed to do his shopping list as well, which was why all three of them were currently on their way. 

Still, carrying everything back was going to be torture in this weather. Maybe it would be better to push off this trip, head home and get his payback later. Yukimura yawned lightly and turned back towards Sanada who seemed to be sunk in his thoughts and Yanagi who was glancing towards the group of kids on the other side of the road, gushing about some idol that Yukimura couldn't care about. 

Yukimura smiled slightly. "You two really are old men." he said, with a light exhale. "It's this hot, but you're both like rocks." 

"The last time it was this hot and we complained, we got to drink Inui and Renji's blasted concoction." Sanada said, looking faintly disgusted in memory. "You missed that, Seiichi and you should be grateful."

"Hey, I used to buy everyone ice-cream when it was hot, some good things happened." Yukimura protested, turning to Yanagi, who looked rather smug. "What was that about, anyway, Renji? I was too busy laughing at Marui and assigning you laps to really ask about it."

"Sadaharu mentioned something about how the reaction to the juice makes for interesting data in how much pain people can withstand. It's also a great stress-reliever." The look in Yanagi's face was a mixture between vindicated and frustrated. Yukimura thought back to what little he'd seen of his team during the white period. They'd always been overly happy to try and make up for the sombre attitude inside the hospital, so he'd never seen what they were really feeling. It had annoyed him, but he'd never mentioned it, because then he'd be confronted about his own forced happiness. But if they were being influenced by Sanada's own downward spiral during his absence...well, no wonder Yanagi had felt the need to resort to that. 

"Haha, three years ago, you would have protested to that sort of thi--" Yukimura broke off mid-sentence as a house came right into sight. Yanagi turned to follow his gaze and Sanada raised an eyebrow as they stared up at the dark house, made almost entirely from dark wood, with high, gothic fences around it. 

"That's creepy." Yanagi remarked, dryly. "Like from a horror movie."

It was a very large house for this part of Kanagawa and Yukimura had never seen it before, even though he'd been down this road a couple of times in the past. Were there spires on the top of the roof? And peering over the thick, overbearing wall, Yukimura saw the telltale blood-red leaves, tinged with purple veins of the very thing he'd been hoping to get a clipping of. No way....

"Seiichi?" asked Sanada, as Yukimura walked a little closer to the street. It was bordering a small alleyway and Yukimura followed it down. Score! There was an ornate metal fence, with bars that were rather narrow, but fairly tall. Of course, under any other circumstances, nobody except a child would fit through, but Yukimura had lost a lot of weight in hospital....

"Seiichi." warned Yanagi, as he realized exactly what Yukimura was going to do. Yukimura cracked his neck and flexed his fingers. It was going to be a narrow fit and his head was the biggest problem (he'd seen the videos of those dogs that got their heads stuck in fences, that was _not_ going to be him).

"You don't have to come in. Just keep a lookout for people coming. Make like an owl noise or something if they're coming." Yukimura said as he slowly pushed himself through. It hurt a little bit, especially against his forehead but it was far easier than expected. Pushing through the bushes, Yukimura stepped into the creepy houses' garden. 

He felt his breath leave his body in a disbelieving exhale, as he stared around the gorgeous garden. Rare species of flowers and trees everywhere, some even Yukimura hadn't seen before, especially among the orchids, cloistered underneath the shade of the large trees. This was crazy, like something out of his dreams. "Woah..." he said, with a disbelieving exhale, as he went towards a plant that looked like Anguloa Uniflora, but couldn't be, because that was nearly impossible to get! 

The entire garden itself was immaculately organized with a small stone paths through the shrubbery and the small pond in the middle of the garden, slowly burbling. Yukimura peered in. No fish there, even though the pond itself looked a bit like one of those koi ponds. Odd. The garden itself, shrouded by the shade from the hot sun, felt cool and quiet, in a sort of peace that even Yukimura's own extensive garden couldn't quite achieve. 

Yukimura shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. It smelled beautiful and he felt somewhat at peace here. Inside a building he was most definitely trespassing in. Yukimura laughed lightly as walked through the garden, carefully, running his fingers over the plants he recognized as non-deadly. Not plastic, either. All real. This was crazy. Most plant collectors would give their limbs to see or own something like this. Yet Yukimura couldn't quite pull himself to take out a camera and record this masterpiece. 

"Seiichi?" asked Sanada, sounding worried. "Is everything alright?"

"Whoever owns this place is a rare plant collector. This place is amazing!' said Yukimura as he knelt down and rubbed the waxy leaves of some of the blossoming plants. Still....for someone who'd taken the care to collect all of this flowers...why was the soil so dry? 

"Hurry up, before he comes back." Sanada called back, sounding summarily uninterested. 

"I...don't think he's coming back." Yukimura said, as he turned around a little to look at the watering tap, near the sidewall of the garden. There was a spider web, almost completely covering the spout and the tap itself didn't even look like it could give off water anymore. 

There was a loud thump and Yukimura turned around, in alarm, hands coming up in sign of surrender. He relaxed at a slightly ruffled-looking Renji, who'd seemed to have jumped over the fence. "Geez, don't scare me like that, Renji." he said, as he straightened up and walked over to the tree he'd been interested in. 

"What makes you think he isn't coming back?" asked Sanada from outside and Yukimura pondered the fragility of the branches and how difficult it would be to climb said tree delicately with flip-flops on. He _knew_ that he should have worn trainers today!

"The cobwebs around the watering hose." said Yanagi, answering for Yukimura, as Yukimura took off his flip flops and apologized to his feet for the splinters that were soon to follow. "If the person who owns the house is a gardening enthusiast, he would take care of his plants in a more timely manner." 

"He could be on holiday." Sanada suggested, sounding somehow tensed. Yukimura scowled a little to himself as he swung himself up to the first level of the tree. That had hurt his shins more than anything. He reached up for a long branch, that was still growing. He didn't much like taking hardwood cuttings, which made him grateful to see a softwood branch, still growing, despite it being the cusp of summer. 

"Thank god for the rain, must have helped this. The tree thought it was spring for longer than it actually was." Yukimura murmured to himself, as he slowly snapped off the growing branches, with the telltale leaves that indicated this as Acer Palmatum, one of the rarest types of maple. 

"If he has gone on holiday and was rich enough to afford all of this, he would have hired someone to upkeep the garden. Indeed, the rain must have helped keep the garden alive. But I wonder why the owner left all of this behind..?" Yanagi mused aloud as he looked around. Yukimura jumped down from the tree and winced slightly at the pain in his left foot. Only one splinter then, not bad, could be worse. Yanagi came up to his side, to balance him, his steady warm hand removing the pain a little. 

"Splinter." Yukimura explained, lowly and Yanagi pulled up Yukimura's foot, pulled out the splinter neatly and raised an eyebrow at Yukimura. 

Yukimura grinned unabashedly, in return. "Renji, find me some pots, would you?" asked Yukimura, turning to look at the species around him and small trowel that had been left among the leaves of the moth orchid. "We just saved ourselves a trip to the flower shop. And saved my poor father a lot of yen."

"S-Seiichi?" asked Sanada, sounding a little panicked. 

"It's not stealing if the owner just abandoned these amazing specimens here. At least I'll look after them." Yukimura said, with a smile as Yanagi returned with a couple of pots. He needed real fertilizer, but if he hurried home with these samples now, he could just as easily replant them in something better. Besides, these plants had survived even with some serious neglect; they could survive a couple of hours in a substandard soil. 

"It's one thing to trespass, Yukimura, but this isn't right..." Sanada said, sounding quite displeased, as Yukimura carefully scooped out some of the rarer types of orchids, as well as the ones he didn't recognize, and placed them in pots. 

"This mean we don't have to keep walking in this sun for a bit." said Yukimura, simply. "There's a supermarket across the road, so we can pick up Renji's stuff there instead of going all the way uptown and then head home. Keep an eye out for other people, okay, we'll be out in a bit."

Yanagi picked up Yukimura's finished pots, without a word and Yukimura smiled at him. Really, it was nice to have a friend that could read minds. He turned back towards the ominous house. There were so many unanswered questions and plants that he couldn't pick up at the moment...he definitely had to return here soon. 

Maybe when his mother came back from her work in Paris. She was less likely to be bothered by questionably legal activities and could bring a car to store all of the flowers. But for now, since Sanada was getting ansty about about this and he _did_ care about Sanada's opinion, no matter how tempting it was to take a look around. "Right, let's go get your stuff, Renji." Yukimura said, with a smile, as they headed back for the gate with the orchids and the clipping of the tree, limping slightly. 

(X)

The week’s groceries in hand (at the cheapest prices he could find), Yanagi listened easily to Yukimura’s dissection of Dustin Brown’s play at the US Open, one ear open for the telltale sounds of the shop he was sort of hoping that they would pass on their way back to Yukimura’s house. Sanada had plenty of critiques for his form as well, and Yanagi suspected that was because Brown played a bit like Niou, with a stronger backhand than forehand, but didn’t interrupt Yukimura.

“And one more thing, he keeps using his height for his serve, but not his breadth, it’s unfathomable. Why would you not use everything you have to your advantage?” Yukimura asked, shaking his head. “If I had his height, I’d definitely use it.”

“At this rate, you’ll be the shortest player on the pro circuit.” Sanada said, solemnly, “You should drink some more milk, or even Andy Murray will tower over you.”

“Jerk!” said Yukimura, smacking Sanada’s shoulder, almost making Sanada drop one of the pots of the orchids. “You’re only like five centimetres taller than me, don’t be cocky. If anyone has a right to be cocky, it’s Renji, and you don’t see him bragging.”

“Not verbally, anyway.” agreed Sanada and Yanagi couldn’t help but snort at that. 

“I don’t need my height to be superior.” he said, easily, which made Sanada draw in a breath of mock surprise and Yukimura to snort. Even without turning around, he could see Yukimura’s arrogant hairtoss, and that thought made him smile. 

“Prepare yourself for a world of pain, Yanagi Renji.” said Yukimura, but he couldn’t keep his voice serious for the whole sentence. Yanagi grinned to himself, moving slightly to the side to avoid the hit that would come for his shoulder, but stopped suddenly, letting the hit impact on his back firmly, as he finally heard the music he’d been waiting for. 

“Renji?” asked Yukimura, curiously as Yanagi turned away and down the alleyway. Yes, this looked familiar, among the wilting balcony plants of the apartments above the stores here and the neon lights of the mobile repair shop at the entrance of the alleyway. 

“Do you mind particularly if we take a detour?” asked Yanagi, turning around. Sanada, still carrying the multitudes of pots, and Yukimura with some of Renji’s shopping bags looked confused, but both nodded, with a trust in him that Yanagi treasured. 

They trailed down the dark alleyway, Sanada shooting some suspect glances at the houses above them and Yukimura shrewdly listening for the music that Yanagi was using to navigate down. It was an otherwise nondescript and easy to miss without the powerful sound of koto thrumming through the air. “Here,” Yanagi said, pulling open the green door (it had been brown the last time Yanagi had been here). 

Sanada walked in and Yukimura followed and Yanagi shut the door behind him. The smell of newly crisp pages and the musty smell of old books mixed together comfortably in the bookstore, and the music of the koto, despite being so loud outside, felt more peaceful inside here. Yanagi smiled softly, as he placed his shopping bags down by the armchairs close to the door. It was cooler here as well, the perfect chill temperature to store books without damaging them. A wonderful contrast to the humidity outside. 

“The Indomitable Bookstore.” read Yukimura, from the sign at the side entrance of the door. “I thought you said you were done with shopping?”

“The essentials, anyway.” said Yanagi, as he wandered towards the new releases section and looked over the books, fingers running over the spines, with happiness. “I wasn’t really looking for any books, but I usually find something new to enjoy among their selection, here. They have an entire room dedicated to older books in the back room, which is always nice.” There was 98.6% chance that...

Sanada’s face seemed a lot more interested now. He placed the plants down by Yanagi’s purchase and headed off to the back, without another word. Yanagi watched him go, with an amused smile. They were both huge fans of history, though Sanada was far more interested in primary sources than Yanagi was. Yukimura laughed, as he too placed down his bags, and joined Yanagi by the new releases. “It’s a nice place.”

“Somewhat.” agreed Yanagi, “The problem is, I can never find it when I actually need a new book about something. So I have to try and predict what I’ll need in the future.” he said, with a faint frown as he picked up a book about mechanics. Useful or not? Niou had been talking about cars and modding, but did that mean Yanagi would have to also learn something about it? And could he afford it, that was another question. Maybe if he skimped on cooling and didn’t turn on the TV so he wouldn’t have to pay the NHK fees...

“It isn’t here?” asked Yukimura, with a skeptical laugh, pulling Yanagi away from his money musings. 

“I’m sure it’s here, but I have extreme difficulty finding it when I actually need to.” Yanagi answered as he tucked the mechanics book under his arm, just in case. “The music is one of the only ways to find it because they’re always changing up the way that the store looks from the outside. 

“So...like that thing in the Harry Potter world, right?” asked Yukimura, with an amused smile, as he leant back against the stacks. “The Room of Requirement. Except it disappears when you need it, so it’s more like the Room of Inconvenience.” he said, a sly grin on his face and Yanagi snorted, softly. Something like that, he supposed. 

“It’s quite convenient when it does show up, however. In the backroom, there’s also a coffee shop. You can order some simple coffees and they’ll bring it to you.” Yanagi mentioned, absently, as he flicked through a book about poetry. He and Yagyuu had been thinking about writing revision guides for this unit in japanese, hadn’t they? This could prove to be useful in explaining something that was more like second-nature to both of them. 

Yukimura lifted an eyebrow. “It’s probably a good thing you can’t find this place on a regular basis, Renji.” he said, lightly, as Yanagi almost dropped his books upon spotting an anthology with a Murakami piece. “You’d never go home, otherwise. It would be school, then here then back to school again. Next you’ll be telling me that they have a shower upstairs or something.” 

Yanagi looked up from the Murakami short story, to see Yukimura’s sweetly crafted smile. “You are laughing at me, Seiichi.” he said, lifting an eyebrow. “At least my happy place isn’t somewhere illegal.”

Yukimura laughed loudly, at that. “Touché. But you looked really cute for a moment.” said Yukimura, wrapping his arms around Renji’s spare arm. “Come on, let’s get some coffee and dissuade Genichirou from buying older versions of books he already has.”


End file.
